Saving Seafood

JAMES D. HERBERT:Climate change affords Maine opportunities to lead in ‘New North’

June 13, 2018 — As the northeasternmost state in the U.S., Maine is geographically positioned as America’s gateway to the Arctic and North Atlantic – regions becoming increasingly important to global commerce and culture. We must cast aside our notion of Maine as a back door to the world and reimagine it as a front door, devoting the full force of our human and economic capital to making Maine a leader in the “New North.”

Geographer Mia Bennett has characterized Maine as the next “near-Arctic state,” and in 2015, Maine’s Angus King partnered with Lisa Murkowski of Alaska to form the Senate Arctic Caucus. The Arctic and the North Atlantic region have become increasingly geopolitically relevant. Characterized by political stability and celebrated for achievements in public health, education, civil rights and other important features of civil society, several North Atlantic countries have become global models. This has resulted in steadily increasing economic activity, trade and tourism.

At the same time, climate change continues to reshape our world’s geography and waters. And while we must do all we can as a global community to minimize the progression and effects of climate change, we must also be realists. As the North thaws, new shipping routes open, valuable temperate-zone fisheries move north, more land becomes available for cultivation and new opportunities for collaboration arise.

Read the full story at the Kennebec Journal

As potential trade wars loom, lawmakers step up to protect Maine lobster

June 4, 2018 — Lobster has a way of bringing people together – particularly Mainers.

The prized crustacean’s magnetism was on full display on Friday, 1 June, when the state of Maine’s four congressional representatives convened in Portland, Maine, U.S.A., with a group of U.S. federal trade officials to start a dialogue about the economic importance of the state’s USD 1.5 billion (EUR 1.2 billion) lobster industry.

Concerns that Maine lobster could become a casualty in international trade wars spurred U.S. senators Susan Collins and Angus King and U.S. representatives Chellie Pingree and Bruce Poliquin to come together for the closed-door trade meetings, which were organized by the Maine Lobster Dealers Association (MLDA).

“This is an incredibly unique opportunity for all of us to have the entire delegation from Maine here in Maine, all under one roof, working together for a really important, common goal,” said Annie Tselikis, who serves as the association director for MLDA, during a press conference at Portland’s DiMillo’s on the Water restaurant, before the delegation moved into their private session with the trade contingent.

“You almost never see all four of us together,” King said. “That’s an important statement in itself.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Sens. King, Collins push for more research on ocean warming in Gulf of Maine

May 1, 2018 — U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King have urged the federal government to improve efforts to understand the causes and effects of the rapid warming of the Gulf of Maine, which threatens to disrupt Maine’s traditional fisheries and the ecosystem that supports them.

“We need greater resources, enhanced monitoring of subsurface conditions, and a better understanding of the diversity of factors that are simultaneously impacting the Gulf of Maine, from changes in circulation and water temperature to ocean acidification,” the senators wrote in a letter Monday to the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Tim Gallaudet.

“This effort is critical not just for Maine and New England states but for our country as a whole,” they added in the letter, which also called for greater cooperative research and monitoring efforts with Canada, which has sovereignty over the eastern half of the gulf. “Understanding the changes occurring in the Gulf of Maine with respect to warming ocean waters will allow us to better understand the impact to fisheries and benefit other waters similarly affected by climate change.”

Canadian scientists recently measured record-breaking temperatures in the deep water flowing into the principal oceanographic entrance to the Gulf of Maine – nearly 11 degrees above normal – and other researchers report warmer water has been intruding into some of the gulf’s deep-water basins. In a press release, the senators said their letter was prompted by an April 24 Press Herald story on these developments.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

 

Maine: 43rd Fishermen’s Forum opens on Thursday

February 27, 2018 — ROCKPORT, Maine — The weathermen may be predicting snow for the weekend but Maine fishermen, or at least the Maine Fishermen’s Forum, say that spring is nearly upon us.

The 43rd annual Maine Fishermen’s Forum gets under way on Thursday at the Samoset Resort in Rockport.

The event features three days of seminars and workshops that bring fishermen from the along the entire New England coast together with: state and federal fisheries scientists, regulators and managers; political incumbents and hopefuls; and maritime enterprises hawking everything from new lobster boats and giant diesel engines to lobster traps, marine electronics, refrigeration systems and foul weather gear.

“This is our biggest trade show ever,” forum Coordinator Chiloa Young said Monday.

The forum also draws a variety of nonprofit organizations involved in fisheries research and conservation, preservation of working waterfronts and similar marine-related causes.

There is also no shortage of social opportunities, including an opening day seafood reception Thursday evening, the fresh fish dinner on Friday and the final banquet and dinner dance Saturday.

Thursday is Shellfish Day, with programs relating to the economics and business innovation in the shellfish industry.

On Friday, the forum will host programs relating, among other topics, to new herring fishing rules, electronic monitoring of fishing vessels and the increasingly fraught issue of the coexistence of the lobster fishery and endangered right whales. The Maine Lobstermen’s Association will hold its 64th Annual Meeting, and mark the retirement of David Cousens after 27 years as the organization’s president.

Friday is also the day for political visitors. According to Young, U.S. Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) will be on hand between 9:30 and 11 a.m., Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) will visit during the morning and Rep. Bruce Poliquin (R-Maine) is planning to attend the fresh fish dinner in the evening.

Read the full story at the Ellsworth American

 

States seek exemptions from Trump’s offshore drilling plan, citing economic value of fisheries

January 18, 2018 — Newly released plans for an expansion of domestic offshore drilling from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump could come at a significant cost to the country’s seafood industry, according to  environmental advocates and public officials.

As the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held a public comment meeting in an Annapolis, Maryland hotel on Tuesday, 16 January, those opposed to the plan met at the same hotel.

William C. Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, reiterated his opposition to leasing drilling rights in Maryland waters and elsewhere. The bay is a critical nurturing ground for blue crabs.

“One oil spill at the wrong time at the wrong place could wipe out an entire year’s class of Chesapeake Bay blue crabs, several hundred million dollars worth, and all the jobs that associate with it,” Baker said at the rally, according to the Capital Gazette.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke unveiled the administration’s proposal, which would open nearly all the country’s coastal waters for oil and gas drilling over a five-year period. Proponents of offshore drilling say it would create new jobs and reduce the country’s reliance on foreign oil supplies.

The first public meetings to receive input into the plan were held Tuesday, 16 January in Annapolis and Jackson, Mississippi. According to the Associated Press, the Mississippi meeting drew a small crowd due to snowy conditions.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

Sens. Blumenthal and Murphy seek ban on New England offshore drilling

January 16, 2018 — U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy Connecticut joined their New England colleagues in backing a bill that would ban offshore drilling along the New England coast.

The New England Coastal Protection Act, which was introduced by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, came in response to an action by the Trump administration that would open offshore oil and gas leasing to approximately 90 percent of the U.S. coastlines. The plan was amended to exclude the Florida coastlines following a complaint filed by Rick Scott, the state’s Republican governor. Blumenthal and Murphy joined a group of 22 senators in a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke demanding their states be granted the same consideration as Florida.

“President Trump’s disastrous and irresponsible proposal has the potential to devastate economies and environments up and down the New England coast,” said Blumenthal in a statement. “Our coastline should be protected as a vital tourism, fishing, and environmental resource – not exposed to the dangers of oil spills or drilling pollution. President Trump’s blatant effort to benefit Big Oil must be met with renewed determination from Congress to protect our waterways for future generations.”

Read the full story at Westfair Online

 

Maine’s congressional delegation unites against drilling off New England coast

January 12, 2018 — U.S. Reps. Bruce Poliquin and Chellie Pingree of Maine are among the co-sponsors of a bill that would prohibit gas drilling off the coast of New England.

Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King on Thursday signed on to a similar measure introduced in the Senate.

The House bill, which is also supported by representatives from New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut, comes in response to a plan announced by President Donald Trump’s administration last week to expand drilling in U.S. coastal waters.

“I am opposed to oil drilling off the coast of our state of Maine,” said Poliquin in a written statement. “So much of our state’s economy and tens of thousands of Maine jobs along our coast depend on our marine and tourism industries. I am committed to protecting Maine’s unique natural resources.”

Pingree has also vowed to fight the president’s policy.

“President Trump’s offshore drilling plan is unprecedented and will face major opposition from Mainers,” Pingree said in a statement last week.

The House bill was introduced Thursday with Rep. David N. Cicilline, R-Rhode Island, as the lead sponsor. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King have also announced their opposition to Trump’s plan and wrote a letter to that effect to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke earlier this week.

“With our environment so closely tied to the vitality of Maine’s economy, we cannot risk the health of our ocean on a shortsighted proposal that could impact Maine people for generations,” Collins and King said in a joint statement.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

 

Maine senators: Trump’s drilling plan threatens lobsters

January 9, 2018 — Both of Maine’s senators are warning that the Trump administration’s plan to open offshore drilling along the coast of their state threatens the state’s huge lobster industry.

“We oppose any effort to open waters off the coast of Maine or any proximate area to offshore drilling, which could negatively affect the health of Maine’s fisheries and other coastal resources, threatening to harm not only the environment but the state’s economy as well,” wrote Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Independent Sen. Angus King wrote to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Monday. “Maine’s economic stability — and countless Mainers’ livelihoods — has always depended on the health of the ocean.”

The lawmakers wrote that lobster alone is a $1.7 billion annual industry for the state.

“These critical industries are dependent on Maine’s pristine waters, and even a minor spill could damage irreparably the ecosystem in the Gulf of Maine, including the lobster larvae and adult lobster populations therein,” the lawmakers wrote.

Read the full story at the Washington Examiner

 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: Keep Carlos Rafael Permits in New Bedford

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — October 5, 2017 — In a letter obtained by Saving Seafood this week, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren urged NOAA “to do everything possible to ensure that [fishing permits belonging to Carlos Rafael] stay in the Port of New Bedford.”

Writing to Chris Oliver, NOAA’s Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, Senator Warren wrote “those permits cover a substantial proportion of several important fishing allocations in the area, including of Georges Bank yellowtail flounder, Georges Bank cod, Georges Bank winter flounder, Georges Bank haddock, and southern New England Winter Flounder. Mr. Rafael’s business accounts directly for three quarters of the value of New Bedford’ s groundfish, which are necessary to diversify the Port’s fishing industry…”

“Removing Mr. Rafael’s permits from New Bedford would do needless, immense damage not only to hundreds of responsible, law-abiding New Bedford fishermen, but also to the economy of New Bedford at large. That is why New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell and the New Bedford City Council, as well as the Greater Southeastern Massachusetts Labor Council, have urged federal officials to, if possible, reissue Mr. Rafael’s permits in a manner that retains these important jobs in the community.”

Read the letter here

Several other elected officials in New England have also written letters regarding the future of Mr. Rafael’s permits. Some of those letters are included below.

Read the letter from Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker to NOAA

Read the letter from New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell to NOAA

Read the letter from R.I. Gov. Gina Raimondo to Judge William Young

Read the letter from members of Maine’s Congressional delegation to the Commerce Department

New England senators say Congress should save Sea Grant program

September 18, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine’s U.S. senators are signing on to a request to keep the National Sea Grant College Program funded at least at its current level.

President Donald Trump has proposed to eliminate the program, which funds science that’s beneficial to commercial fisheries, conservation and coastal businesses. It has existed for about a half century.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at NH1